[Siginet]

OK...

Update has been added to the download.

We are now at Windows XP PowerPacker Beta v.1.02

1. I fixed the window size. It should now fit any resolution that somebody would use.

2. Made PowerPacker Set Attributes on all files to normal.

3. Added features to help make sure users do not point to incorrect directories.

[Siginet]

I just added PowerPacker v1.03 to the first post.

There were no changes to the program except for the new "Help" button which opens up a quick help file I made to make it a little easier to understand the program.

I still need beta testers.

[badboy05mtl]

Does it help to install the program or change cd while installing another program from another CD? It will be a great idea if you do so I had a plan due to illeterate of programming I can't do that. I am just giving some feedback. Peace................and chill out........

[Siginet]

I'm not sure if I understand you.

This program does not need to be installed. The only cd's you would need to swap would be different versions of the OS.

Can you try to explain in more detail?

[Swe_mx]

Hi Siginet !

Thanks for a nice application

However, when I run it I get some errors:

The boot folders have not been copied to my powerpack cd folder
so I get XVI32 error opening files setupldr.bin and txtsetup.sif.

Boot folder is still found in root of boot HD, I use several drives
will copy powerpack cd folder to C drive and see it it makes any differance.

Regards

Swe_mx

[Siginet]

Swe_mx, on May 22 2005, 09:56 AM, said:

Hi Siginet !

Thanks for a nice application 

However, when I run it I get some errors:

The boot folders have not been copied to my powerpack cd folder
so I get XVI32 error opening files setupldr.bin and txtsetup.sif.

Boot folder is still found in root of boot HD, I use several drives
will copy powerpack cd folder to C drive and see it it makes any differance.

Regards

Swe_mx
<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Is the boot folder resideing on the same drive as your "boot.ini" file? I assumed that this folder would always be on the same drive as the "boot.ini" file. I am probably wrong though. It probably copys the boot files to a HD with the most space.

I will fix this issue in the next version. Instead of having it look on the same drive as "boot.ini" I will have it check every drive for it. I should have done that to begin with anyways.

Thanks for the report... I didn't think about that.

[Siginet]

Windows XP PowerPacker v1.04 Released - 05-22-05
1. Fixed problem with Boot directory not copying to the destination sometimes. It should work every time now.

Thanks go to: Swe_mx for pointing out this major bug.

[Nazgul]

You could create a boot folder by hand, without the need of the boot.ini location or such, by parsing the dosnet.inf file from the Windows source.

I made a small util which does that, but you could easily write something yourself with AutoIt.

If you want to know how I did it, just PM me.

[Siginet]

That app does exactly what I need.

How did you parse the dosnet.inf file?

[Nazgul]

There are a couple of sections in dosnet.inf which are interesting for us. The first being Directories

Quote

[Directories]d1 = \I386
d2 = \cmpnents\tabletpc\I386
d3 = \cmpnents\mediactr\I386
d4 = \cmpnents\netfx\I386

This section contains a sort of lookup table which is referenced in the rest of the file.
I split these lines at the = and trim the (possible) spaces from the beginnings and the ends. I then store them in a so called hashtable for later reference.

The next sections which are interesting are the FloppyFiles.? sections, where ? is a number. (So not the FloppyFiles.x one)

Quote

[FloppyFiles.0]d1,disk1,disk101
d1,ntdetect.com
d1,ntkrnlmp.exe
d1,setupldr.bin
d1,txtsetup.sif
d1,biosinfo.inf

[FloppyFiles.1]









d1,disk1,disk102
d1,hal.dll
d1,halacpi.dll
d1,halapic.dll
...

[FloppyFiles.2]
d1,disk1,disk103
d1,cpqarray.sys
...

[FloppyFiles.3]
d1,disk1,disk104
d1,ntdll.dll,system32\ntdll.dll
d1,usetup.exe,system32\smss.exe
d1,flpydisk.sys
...

You can just ignore the empty lines. The none empty lines are made up of the folowing syntax folder,source[,destination].

If we look at the d1,disk1,disk101 entry. It tells us that we have to copy the disk1 file from d1 (which is \I386 as we discovered before) and copy it to our bootfolder using the name disk101.

The second one d1,ntdetect.com, would also be copied from I386, but because no destination name is specified it will retain its current name.

And lastly I want to point to FloppyFiles.3 where a couple of entries have folder names in their destination section.

I'll leave it up to you to translate this to AutoIt code, but feel free to ask questions if something is unclear.

[Siginet]

Nazgul, on May 23 2005, 01:44 PM, said:

There are a couple of sections in dosnet.inf which are interesting for us. The first being Directories

Quote

[Directories]
d1 = \I386
d2 = \cmpnents\tabletpc\I386
d3 = \cmpnents\mediactr\I386
d4 = \cmpnents\netfx\I386

This section contains a sort of lookup table which is referenced in the rest of the file.
I split these lines at the = and trim the (possible) spaces from the beginnings and the ends. I then store them in a so called hashtable for later reference.

The next sections which are interesting are the FloppyFiles.? sections, where ? is a number. (So not the FloppyFiles.x one)

Quote

[FloppyFiles.0]d1,disk1,disk101
d1,ntdetect.com
d1,ntkrnlmp.exe
d1,setupldr.bin
d1,txtsetup.sif
d1,biosinfo.inf

[FloppyFiles.1]









d1,disk1,disk102
d1,hal.dll
d1,halacpi.dll
d1,halapic.dll
...

[FloppyFiles.2]
d1,disk1,disk103
d1,cpqarray.sys
...

[FloppyFiles.3]
d1,disk1,disk104
d1,ntdll.dll,system32\ntdll.dll
d1,usetup.exe,system32\smss.exe
d1,flpydisk.sys
...

You can just ignore the empty lines. The none empty lines are made up of the folowing syntax folder,source[,destination].

If we look at the d1,disk1,disk101 entry. It tells us that we have to copy the disk1 file from d1 (which is \I386 as we discovered before) and copy it to our bootfolder using the name disk101.

The second one d1,ntdetect.com, would also be copied from I386, but because no destination name is specified it will retain its current name.

And lastly I want to point to FloppyFiles.3 where a couple of entries have folder names in their destination section.

I'll leave it up to you to translate this to AutoIt code, but feel free to ask questions if something is unclear.
<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

So the [FloppyFiles.?] sections are the only sections we need to grab files from, if I understand you correctly?

Would you mind if I integrate your program within mine at least untill I get a chance to write an autoit that does this?

It looks like it might take me a little while to write this. But from what you say it doesn't really sound too hard... it's just finding the time to do it.

Thanks a lot Nazgul.

[Nazgul]

Siginet, on May 24 2005, 01:32 AM, said:

Would you mind if I integrate your program within mine at least untill I get a chance to write an autoit that does this?<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I created my tool to be used, so why should I mind.

[Siginet]

Thanks Nazgul I appreciate it.

[Siginet]

New update added today.

We may be getting close to a full release allready.

Please try the new release out and let me know if you have any troubles.

It should be much faster now. Thanks to Nazgul's BootFolder.exe program!

[Telenut]

Stupid question: But what is the purpose of the project exactly?
It creates a multiboot CD where you can choose: with or without driverpacks, or normal installation.
But will it use the same files for this? (Can I put the iso on a CD?)
And when the 'sourcefiles' are edited by nLite, will it still work?
if Yes, I will test this soon :-)

[Siginet]

Telenut, on May 25 2005, 12:38 AM, said:

Stupid question: But what is the purpose of the project exactly?
It creates a multiboot CD where you can choose: with or without driverpacks, or normal installation.
But will it use the same files for this? (Can I put the iso on a CD?)
And when the 'sourcefiles' are edited by nLite, will it still work?
if Yes, I will test this soon :-)
<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Yes it will allow you to put multiple versions of XP on a CD or DVD then it will allow you to create an optimized ISO which you can burn to CD/DVD with just about any CD/DVD burning software. You can have One with DPs One without and one normal version of each different XP cd.

As for your Nlite question... any limitations that you had with the driverpacks would still be the same.

Also... you would probably need to use Nlite on the source files before using PowerPacker.

I have plans on adding an option in the program to get rid of unneeded Update directories which will save space and also options to get rid of the LANG folder. But I haven't implemented it yet.

The program was made to simplify making multiboot XP disks with/without driverpacks.

Enjoy

[Swimming_Bird]

awesome proggie, if you could also include xprize that would be killer.


keep up the good work.

[pinchecabron]

Panda Antivirus is detecting powerpacker as spyware (Adware/Maxifiles)

hxxp://www.pandasoftware.es/virus_info/enciclopedia/ficha.aspx?iddeteccion=29250

Could it be a false positive?

[Siginet]

It is definatly a false positive. Som antivirus/antispyware programs will call just about any script a virus/spyware. Panda is one of them. Panda sees that my program is editing files and it is flipping out. Just tell panda to allow it and you shouldn't have any more popups from it. I use symantec antivirus and it doesn't do that.

[Siginet]

Swimming_Bird, on Jun 5 2005, 03:17 AM, said:

awesome proggie, if you could also include xprize that would be killer.


keep up the good work.
<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I plan to add many things to this program. I have never used Xpize... but I will try it out and see if it can be used in PowerPacker.

What I did do to help people add certain things is I put a section called "Extra Files".

Inside of "Extra Files" is a section called "Extra Pack Files" with it you can easily add extra files into each "Pack" (Read the help file for my definition of "Pack".)

Another section in there is called "Extra Root Files" which you can use to add files to the root of the entire package.